[Elladan and Elrohir]

I know I'm a newbie (aka "fresh meat) on this board, but I've read LOTR many times, and I humbly think I understand it pretty well. I have seen FOTR movie, but not TT (yet). However, I am well aware of the Faramir controversy. My view? I give it to you in the words of the Encyclopedia of Arda, in its WONDERFUL "Movie-goers' Guide to The Two Towers":<P><I>The story of Frodo's meeting with Faramir has been radically modified. Tolkien's Faramir is one of the most insightful and compassionate characters in the book, intelligent enough to divine the importance of Frodo's mission, and to let him continue without hindrance. In the movie, he's lost all these qualities - deciding to take the Ring to Minas Tirith, he drags Frodo and Sam some forty miles out of their way, allowing a Nazgûl to discover the Ring in Osgiliath, before he realises he's made a mistake. <P>In fact, the idea of the Ring being revealed to one of the Ringwraiths in Osgiliath threatens to undermine the entire plot. The whole purpose of Frodo's mission is to bring the Ring to Mordor </I>in secret.<I> His only hope of success is in Sauron's ignorance of the Ring's whereabouts, but here we seem to see one of Sauron's slaves discovering its exact location, and on the very borders of his master's realm. It's not completely clear how Frodo survives this encounter - no such dangerous and foolhardy adventure occurs in the book. <P>Addendum<BR>The feedback we've had on this point suggests that it's worth exploring in a bit more detail. A lot of people have pointed out that Sauron already knew that the Ring was in the hands of a hobbit, and would have expected it to be on its way to Minas Tirith, so its appearance in Osgiliath, only about twenty miles from the City of Gondor, wouldn't have made a significant difference to his plans. <P>Actually, at this point in Tolkien's original story, we have a clearer idea of Sauron's beliefs about the Ring than this suggests. He knew about Saruman's capture of the hobbits beneath Amon Hen, and assumed that one of these had been the Ring-bearer. Through Saruman's palantír (in a scene that hasn't yet appeared in the movie version) he says, 'Tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. I will send for it at once.' </I>(The Two Towers<I> III 11, </I>The Palantír<I>). Soon after this, he discovered Isengard had been overthrown, and so would presume that the Ring was in the possession of the Rohirrim, out of his reach at that time, but far from Minas Tirith, too. <P>The situation presented by the movie would overturn all these presumptions, suddenly presenting him with the Ring all-but unguarded on his own borders. Of course it's impossible to say with certainty what would have happened in a situation like this, it's also difficult to believe that it wouldn't have affected Sauron's actions in any way at all. Having presumed the Ring to be hundreds of miles away, he would suddenly have found it on his own borders - a few minutes' flight for the Nazgûl, and with a huge army stationed just a few leagues away at Minas Morgul. Given this extraordinary opportunity - the key to victory dangled in front of his grasp - Sauron would surely have made </I>some<I> attempt to recapture it. </I><BR> <A HREF="http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm</A>